Offaly Football Team Versus Wexford

[naasmanxrhode]

My team if all available for the wexford match

Kelly
Lonergan
Dalton / Sullivan
Darby

Neville
Sullivan /Dalton
Slatts

Super
Smith

McManus
Ryan
Casey

Deehan
Reynolds / Ward
Nialler

[True Red]

Probably the first time (and maybe the last)an Edenderry man will row in behind a rhodeman on any issue but i like the look of that team that naasmanxrhode has picked there.

Muller has done feck all wrong but his kickout strategy against Kildare was flawed.Bringing Kelly back in will alow him to hit McManus on the half forward line.
There is no questioning Evans' commitment to the cause but if you were basing it on his last performance against Kildare,you would have to leave him on the bench. I would have Richie at full back with Sullivan at centre back as Sullivan has a small bit of an edge on Richie in the skill stakes.Richie also played nearly 3 years of Under 21 with the county at full back so he is no stranger to the position.The corner and wing men are well positioned,with nev and slatts excellent carriers of the ball.

Further out the field there is good mix and balance in the forward line,with size(Ward,McManus),speed(ryan,casey),trickiness(Reynolds) and star quality(Niall Mc).

If we can get our midfield working hard,with Alan mcNamee hitting a bit of form and supplying the bullets to his brother and Smith soaring to the clouds I would have no fear of Wexford who are without their scorer in chief and an All Ireland Club medalist(?) in Morrissey at wing back.

[Lone Shark]

My personal opinion is that Evans is taking a lot of heat for what happened against Kildare, despite the fact that even Ryan McMenamin or Marc Ó'Sé would have struggled to mark Doyle in 40 yards of space, as he had all around him. You cannot give any forward that much room to work with, never mind one of the elite forwards in Ireland, and expect him not to do damage. Even then a couple of Doyle's scores were from giveaway passes that Evans could do nothing about.

On the other side of the coin, I've always had great time for Richie Dalton and I expect him to play a lot of championship football for Offaly in the next ten years, however surely ye could see that he was absolutely lost against Kildare - he struck me as a guy who simply wasn't ready for that standard of football at all. Just to be clear here - I don't blame Dalton for that in that we haven't had a good run at under 21 in any of the last few years and he never got to kick a ball in the league this year. However he was way off the pace to my mind and unless Tom Cribben is seeing something at training that didn't happen in the match, then I'd be keeping Richie in the squad but leaving him off the team until next Spring when he can learn the ropes in the league.

Now on the other hand, if there was a determination to drop Evans (and again I echo, I wouldn't - I still think he's the best full back we have) and if Neville Coughlan is back to form, then Coughlan at centre back and Sullivan to full back I could definitely endorse.

Up front, I don't like the idea of a big full forward crowding up the space, however if we were to play one, I'd prefer to see someone like Brian Connor given the job, someone who might grow into the role in the long term rather than giving another go to PJ who with all due respect, simply hasn't pulled up any trees in his time with Offaly.

[naasmanxrhode]

My personal opinion is that Evans is taking a lot of heat for what happened against Kildare, despite the fact that even Ryan McMenamin or Marc Ó'Sé would have struggled to mark Doyle in 40 yards of space, as he had all around him.

What did Doyle do against Wexford? and in the first half against Laois, Evans was at least 5 yards behind Doyle all day, how hec lasted the full match is beyond me.

[Lone Shark]

My personal opinion is that Evans is taking a lot of heat for what happened against Kildare, despite the fact that even Ryan McMenamin or Marc Ó'Sé would have struggled to mark Doyle in 40 yards of space, as he had all around him.

What did Doyle do against Wexford? and in the first half against Laois, Evans was at least 5 yards behind Doyle all day, how hec lasted the full match is beyond me.

I'm at a disadvantage here in that the night of the Kildare vs Wexford game I was watching Tubber vs Raheen, so I can't really comment on that game, I've no idea how Wexford as a team played Doyle.

Don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying that Evans had a blinder against Kildare, of course he didn't, but I'm saying that they were very trying circumstances in which any man would have struggled. Of course he could have gambled and gone out for every ball to try and get out in front, but the risk there is that Doyle gets in behind you and even if you win 90% of the ball, he still scores two goals on you.

Marking a man out of the game when he has the ability to score and pass with equal dexterity and has acres of space to run into on every side is simply not feasible.

[Johnno81]

Any word on the team for tomorrow guys??

[This Year's Model]

In the absence of an Offaly line-up, here's the opposition:
Wexford (SF v Offaly): A Masterson, N Murphy, G Molloy, D Carter, B Malone, D Murphy, C Morris, D Fogarty, B Doyle, R Barry, S Cullen, A Flynn, C Lyng, S Roche, PJ Banville.

Walsh, Morrissey (backs), Bradley (MF), and Forde all injured. For a team with the strength-in-shallowness of Wexford, that's quite a blow for starters.

Looks like Graeme Molloy will be "rewarded" for the job he did on John Doyle by being given the task of holding Niall Mc. Big ask, as our egg-chaser friends might say.

It's not a team of World-beaters, but it's a bold selection under the circumstances. Championship ever-present full-back for 8 years, Philip Wallace is dropped, and some other old soldiers Colfer, Kinsella, Howlin on the bench. He's gone for youth and mobility but not necessarily physical strength.

As long as they don't think that home venue is going to win the game for us, they should put it up to Offaly, and there are enough options on the bench if things go wrnog early on. But I won't be putting any money on them at 4/7!

[Lone Shark]

It's not a team of World-beaters, but it's a bold selection under the circumstances. Championship ever-present full-back for 8 years, Philip Wallace is dropped, and some other old soldiers Colfer, Kinsella, Howlin on the bench. He's gone for youth and mobility but not necessarily physical strength.

Not unlike what we did against Kildare. Sometimes this can work, but if you meet a fired up opposition ready to compete, it can backfire. That said I don't think Offaly will be anything like as fired up as they'll need to be.

[fatlad]

I was in Gracefield last night looking at the Offaly team training - now i know they are only a few days away from a championship game but there was an awful lot of lads just going through the motions.

[Lone Shark]

I remember last year we played a junior league match in Rhode round about this time of year and I nipped into Croghan on my way back to see the tail end of the county training as well, and came away with the very same impression. Some lads were putting in an honest effort while others might as well have been training with a junior club in March, such was their torpor.

We all saw what happened then - I truly hope it won't be the same again this week.

[Bord na Mona man]

It is a hard one to judge.
Before a big match you don't want to be slogging too hard.
Shooting practice and maximising the number of ball contacts are more important at this stage.

I'd have my fears about what might happen tomorrow afternoon.
If I were to read into the rumours, then there is a possibility of a performance which registers up there with Down last year and Wicklow the year before on the stinkometer.
Hopefully that sort of pessimism is misplaced.

[ghostboy]

what is the story with pauric sullivan,is he not near that team by now,made huge strides with rhode last year and played well with offaly at beginning of the year,dont understand why he is not a contender???

[red exile]

i think he is on army duty in chad

[sparklin]

The following is the Offaly team to play Wexford in the All-Ireland football qualifier at Wexford Park on Saturday, 4th July.

There are eight changes to the starting 15 to that which was selected for the Leinster SFC tie versus Kildare.

Padraic Kelly (Shamrocks)

Stephen Lonergan (Birr)

Ger Rafferty (St Rynagh’s)

Brian Darby (Rhode)

Karol Slattery (Gracefield)

Shane Sullivan (Rhode)

Tomas O’Connor (Walsh Island)

Alan McNamee (Rhode)

Brian Connor (Walsh Island)

Ciaran McManus (Tubber)

Sean Ryan (Birr)

Niall Smith (Gracefield)

Thomas Deehan (Clara)

PJ Ward (Shamrocks)

Niall McNamee (Rhode)

[Bord na Mona man]

Good enough team on paper.
I hope they can do their stuff on the pitch.